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PUBLICATIONS  OF 
THE  AMERICAN  ACADEMY  OF  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE 

No. 451 


The  Development  of  Park  Systems  in 
American  Cities 

BY 

ANDREW  WRIGHT  CRAWFORD 

Secretary  City  Parks  Association,  Philadelphia 


Reprinted   from  THE  ANNALS  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Political  and  Social  Science  for  March,  1905 


PHILADELPHIA: 

THE  AMERICAN  ACADEMY  OF  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE 
England  :   P.  S.  King  &  Son,  2  Great  Smith  Street,  Westminster,  London,  S.  W. 

France :    L.  Larose,  Rue  Soufflot  22,  Paris 

Italy:   Direzione  del  Gioniaie  Degli  Economist!',  Rome,  Via  Monte  Savello,  Palazzo  Orsini 
Spain :  Capdeville,  9  Plaza  de  Santa  Ana,  Madrid 

Pi-ice,  25  Cts. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  PARK  SYSTEMS 
IN  AMERICAN  CITIES 


C/AU 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  PARK  SYSTEMS  IN  AMERICAN 

CITIES 

BY  ANDREW  WRIGHT  CRAWFORD,  ESQ. 
Secretary  City  Parks  Association,  Philadelphia. 

The  most  promising  feature  of  American  civic  life  during  the 
last  decade  has  not  been  heralded  with  flourish  of  trumpets.  The 
fashion  of  the  newspapers  and  magazines  of  the  day  to  decry  indis- 
criminately all  things  municipal  has  spread  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  majority  of  us  are  loath  to  believe  that  there  is  anything  to  be 
said  in  actual  praise  of  municipal  government  in  this  country.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  inquire  to  what  extent  this  fashion  has  pre- 
vented the  success  of  many  reform  movements.  The  mis-state- 
ments of  honest  but  ill-informed  reformers  have  acted  as  boomer- 
angs. Nothing  needs  accuracy  more  than  a  reform  movement.  Yet 
reformers  exaggerate  to  such  an  extent  that  "the  rank  and  file" 
assume  that  they  are  as  far  from  the  truth  as  the  parties  in  power. 
One  of  the  accomplishments  of  the  parties  in  power,  for  which  not 
only  reformers  but  the  public  in  general  have  failed  to  give  due 
credit,  is  the  improvement  in  appearance  of  cities,  which  has  been 
effected  chiefly  by  preserving  places  of  marked  natural  beauty  for 
the  use  of  the  public  and  by  making  attractive  the  communications 
between  these  natural  parks  and  residential  sections.  If  politicians 
have  been  brought  to  the  point  of  appreciating  natural  beauty,  and 
I  believe  this  paper  will  note  results  that  bear  strong  testimony 
that  they  have,  and  if  the  appreciation  of  beauty  is  really  uplifting, 
it  would  seem  that  the  general  pessimism  of  the  day  as  to  municipal 
government  fails  to  take  into  account  the  real  facts  of  the  case. 

Progress  of  this  kind  is  not  likely  to  attract  general  attention 
at  its  inception.  A  large  part  of  the  general  public  do  not  under- 
stand "plans."  They  cannot  visualize.  The  people  who  can  visualize 
saw  many  plans  on  paper  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago,  but  no  execu- 
tion of  them.  Consequently,  it  is  only  now,  when  concrete  results 


The  Development  of  Park  Systems  in  American  Cities          1 7 

are  visible,  that  the  general  public  is  beginning  to  realize  that  some 
things  have  been,  not  only  planned,  but  done,  and  well  done. 

The  acquisition  of  outer  park  systems  is  passing  rapidly  from 
the  stage  of  undertaking  to  that  of  accomplishment.  The  crea- 
tion of  civic  centers,  the  grouping  of  public  buildings  around  a  mall, 
is  passing  from  the  stage  of  agitation  to  that  of  undertaking.  The 
development  of  the  water  fronts  of  American  cities  as  the  river- 
banks  of  European  cities  have  been  developed  has  passed!  from  the 
stage  of  airy  speculation  to  that  of  active  agitation  supported  by 
plans  and  cross-sections. 

The  City  Plan. 

There  is  nothing  abstruse  about  the  things  that  make  a  city 
beautiful,  unless  it  be  the  city  plan.  That  can  scarcely  be  called 
abstruse,  but  it  is  fundamental.  As  the  increasing  attention  that 
is  being  paid  to  this  apparently  uninteresting  topic  is  one  of  the 
results  of  the  outer  park  movement,  it  would  seem  more  logical 
historically  to  discuss  it  as  a  result.  The  preservation  of  places  of 
natural  beauty,  which  perhaps  may  be  termed  the  battle  cry  of  the 
outer  park  agitation,  unqualifiedly  demands  that  when  a  system  of 
city  streets  approaches  the  boundaries  of  a  natural  park  the  rigid- 
ity of  its  lines  shall  give  way  to  the  flowing  curves  of  the  natural 
contour  of  the  ground.  But  the  instant  the  city  plan  gives  way  at  one 
point,  the  question  is  raised  why  it  should  not  give  way  even  at  points 
where  parks  are  not  projected.  The  result  of  raising  this  question 
has  been  the  realization  of  the  fact  that  the  plan  according  to  which 
streets  of  a  city  are  to  be  opened  is  more  fundamental  than  any  of 
the  functions  to  be  provided  for  by  that  plan,  and  that  what  is  called 
an  outer  park  system  is  but  one  of  those  functions.  Consideration 
of  the  city  plan  lies  therefore  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  subject. 

While  this  consideration  has  not  made  great  progress  in  this 
country,  the  signs  of  the  times  are  noteworthy.  Park  and  munic- 
ipal art  associations,  formed  frequently  with  no  suggestion  of  a 
purpose  to  discuss  that  stupid  thing  called  "the  city  plan,"  which 
is  generally  known  as  the  map  of  city  streets,  are  beginning  to 
devote  more  and  more  attention  to  it.  Several  organizations  of  the 
larger  cities  have  special  committees  on  the  city  plan.  Other  asso- 
ciations have  published  reports  advocating  radical  changes  therein. 
Official  art  commissions,  such  as  that  of  New  York,  have  been 


260466 


1 8  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

appointed  to  suggest  improvements  in  street  systems.  Suburban 
owners  are  beginning  to  consider  the  wisdom, "from  the  financial 
point  of  view,  of  making  the  lines  of  their  streets  follow  the  contour 
of  the  ground,  and  when  that  consideration  is  begun,  the  question 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  entire  city  plan  is  brought  to  the  front. 

The  planning  of  the  direction  of  city  streets,  of  their  width,  and 
of  their  grades,  determines  fundamentally  the  possibilities  of  a  city's 
development,  both  with  reference  to  its  attractiveness  and  to  its 
adaptability  for  the  transaction  of  business.  The  city  of  the  future 
will  depend  for  its  pre-eminence  upon  the  ease  of  inter-communica- 
tion between  its  different  sections. 

Inter-communication  can  be  greatly  facilitated  or  greatly  hin- 
dered by  the  way  the  streets  are  laid  out.  Consider  New  York.  Its 
underground  system  of  rapid  transit  was  necessitated  largely  by  the 
scarcity  of  streets  running  north  and  south,  and  New  York  City 
has  paid  roundly  in  dollars  and  cents  for  that  mistake,  while  its 
citizens,  particularly  its  clerks  and  stenographers,  have  suffered 
every  morning  and  night  for  a  decade  because  of  the  congestion 
caused  in  large  part  by  a  street  system  unintelligently  planned. 
Consider,  on  the  other  hand,  Washington.  Its  street  system  is  di- 
rectly responsible  for  its  attractiveness  and  for  the  promise  of 
greater  attractiveness  in  the  future.  Consider  Philadelphia.  Its 
system  of  rectangular  blocks  materially  interferes  with  transit  and 
causes  a  monotonous  architectural  effect.  As  has  been  said,  it  com- 
pels the  citizen  to  run  his  latitude  and  longitude  generally,  instead 
of  taking  a  direct  or  diagonal  route.  It  is  curious  how  we  strain 
at  a  gnat  and  swallow  a  camel  in  city  making.  Recently  the  Mayor 
of  Philadelphia  suggested  a  fountain  for  the  centre  of  the  City  Hall 
court-yard,  which  would  compel  a  slight  detour.  There  has  already 
been  opposition  because  of  this  detour,  and  yet  the  enormous  detours 
compelled  by  the  street  system  are  passed  over  in  silence;  if  atten- 
tion is  called  to  the  matter,  the  right  of  property  owners  to  lay 
streets  so  as  to  erect  the  greatest  number  of  buildings  is  declared 
paramount.  This  is  recognized  in  Germany  where  alternative  plans 
have  frequently  been  presented,  showing  a  scheme  of  streets  both 
with  and  without  regard  to  these  demands  of  individuals  ("A  ohne, 
B  mit  Berilcksichtigung  der  Eigentumsgrenzen"}.  The  Germans 
frankly  accept  the  necessity  of  deciding  between  the  interests  of  the 
real  estate  operators  and  those  of  the  community  between  the  inter- 

[220! 


The  Development  of  Park  Systems  in  American  Cities          19 

ests  of  the  individual  and  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number. 
While  the  discussion  of  this  subject  in  America  has  been  con- 
fined chiefly  to  occasional  articles  in  more  or  less  technical  maga- 
zines, such  as  engineering  and  architectural  monthlies,  and  to  special 
reports  of  associations,  its  progress  throughout  Europe,  both  in 
England  and  on  the  continent,  has  been  considerably  greater,  and 
in  Germany  the  development  of  the  subject  has  been  quite  remark- 
able. The  question  of  planning  the  suburban  sections  of  the  smaller 
and  larger  German  cities  has  secured  the  attention  of  the  public  to 
such  an  extent  that  at  the  beginning  of  1904  a  beautifully  illustrated 
magazine,  devoted  principally  to  the  discussion  of  plans  for  street 
extension,  was  launched  upon  the  public.  We  have  not  reached 
the  point  where  publishers  recognize  that  there  is  a  business  prob- 
ability that  a  magazine  entitled  "The  City  Plan"  will  be  successful. 
It  is  probable  that  we  will  reach  that  point  before  many  years,  and 
this  as  a  direct  result  of  the  movement  for  the  City  Beautiful. 

Outer  Park  System. 

The  most  striking  results  of  the  movement  so  far  secured 
consist  in  what  are  termed  outer  park  systems.  The  word 
"outer"  in  this  connection  is  misleading;  it  seems  to  convey  the 
idea  that  somewhere  away  beyond  the  built  up  portions  of  a  city 
there  are  natural  parks  which  the  city  has  secured  so  that  for  all 
time  its  inhabitants  will  have  some  place  to  go  in  the  country.  Yet 
in  fifty  years  it  is  probable  that  the  outer  parks  of  to-day  will  be  as 
completely  inner  parks  as  Madison  Square  in  New  York,  Washing- 
ton Square  in  Philadelphia  and  the  Commons  in  Boston,  are  to-day. 
The  site  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  in  1852  was  a  truck  patch. 
Again  the  term  "outer"  seems  to  imply  that  the  agitators  of  the 
movement  are  making  the  same  mistake  that  was  made  a  genera- 
tion ago  when  during  the  sixties  and  seventies  the  majority  of  the 
large  parks  of  the  country,  such  as  Fairmount  Park  in  Philadelphia, 
Franklin  Park  in  Boston  and  Central  Park  in  New  York,  were  being 
secured.  That  mistake  consisted  in  being  so  completely  absorbed 
with  the  idea  of  the  single  great  country  park  as  to  fail  to  recognize 
the  value  of  the  small  open  spaces  four  and  five  acres  or  less  in 
extent.  The  term  "comprehensive  park  movement"  is  more  descrip- 
tive of  the  character  of  the  agitation  to-day. 

In  the  eighties  there  began  an  agitation  for  the  creation  of  these 

[aail 


20  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

small  open  spaces  that  were  then  sometimes  called  "squares,"  some- 
times "parks,"  never  "playgrounds."  It  may  be  it  was  the  cost  of 
these  squares  compared  with  the  cost  of  the  great  parks  that  made 
the  agitators  of  the  park  movement  realize  the  importance  of  avoid- 
ing the  mistake  of  former  generations  in  not  securing  open  spaces 
all  around  the  city  before  they  were  built  upon.  To  take  a  some- 
what later  example,  because  the  figures  are  at  hand,  what  more  con- 
vincing argument  from  the  economic  point  of  view  could  be  ad- 
vanced than  is  offered  by  the  fact  that  for  three  parks  covering  less 
than  ten  acres  in  the  congested  portion  of  the  East  Side,  New 
York  recently  paid  more  than  it  paid  for  Central  Park  in  the 
fifties  and  sixties.1  Another  example  may  be  taken  from  Phila- 
delphia. That  city  lately  condemned  for  park  purposes  a  triangle 
of  ground,  two  and  a  half  acres  in  extent,  covered  by  buildings,  at  a 
cost  of  $400,000,  while  at  the  same  time  a  number  of  organizations 
were  bringing  to  the  attention  of  the  city  authorities  a  tract  of 
ground  forty  acres  in  extent,  covered  by  magnificent  woods,  which 
could  be  purchased  for  five-eighths  of  that  cost,  and  this  woodland 
is  located  just  at  the  limit  of  the  built  up  area  of  the  city. 

The  example  of  European  cities  in  replacing  their  walls  by 
encircling  parks  (perhaps  the  most  perfect  instance  is  Brunswick, 
though  Brussels  is  better  known),  may  have  had  much  to  do  with 
the  institution  of  the  movement  in  America.  At  any  rate,  in  1893 
we  find  the  first  conscious  beginning  of  the  agitation  for  compre- 
hensive park  systems  in  this  country.  This  agitation  has  resulted 
in  ten  years  in  several  fairly  complete  systems,  now  being  repro- 
duced throughout  the  country.  The  city  of  New  York  had  already 
five  years  previously  begun  the  acquisition  of  the  Bronx  parks,  but 
that  acquisition  appears  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  same  idea,  of 
an  outlet  for  the  people  to  the  country,  that  secured  Central  Park. 
The  idea  that  now  dominates  the  movement  is  that  country  parks 
should  be  preserved  on  a  clearly  defined  scheme  in  order  that  each 
section  of  the  city,  as  it  develops,  may  have  a  wide  expanse  of  park 
land  easily  accessible,  and  that  the  various  parks  shall  be  com- 
pletely connected  by  parkways,  which  shall  not  only  tie  them  to- 
gether but  link  them  with  residential  sections  as  well. 

1The  official  figures  for  the  cost  of  the  land  alone  are:  Central  Park,  total  area,  839.9 
acres  ;  cost,  $5,028,844.10.  Mulberry  Bend,  Corlear's  Hook  and  Seward  Parks,  total  area 
9.9  acres;  cost,  $5,237,363.27. 


The  Development  of  Park  Systems  in  American  Cities          21 

The  two  pioneers  in  the  movement  were  Kansas  City  and 
Boston.  In  each  a  definite,  complete,  co-ordinated  scheme  was 
worked  out.  Unquestionably  Boston  has  exerted  the  greater  influ- 
ence, but  Kansas  City  has  given  an  example  which  the  cities  of  the 
Middle  West  are  following  more  and  more.  Since  1893  the  most 
important  part  of  the  Kansas  City  plan  has  been  carried  out.  The 
city  has  largely  secured  the  ground  for  the  parks  and  parkways 
which  the  plans  contemplate.  The  development  of  the  ground  is 
always  the  less  important  part  and  can  wait.  There  are  now  ten 
and  a  half  miles  of  completed  boulevards,  land  has  been  secured  for 
about  sixteen  miles  more  and  the  construction  work  is  going  on. 
The  total  area  in  parks  and  parkways,  nearly  all  acquired  since  1893, 
is  over  two  thousand  acres.  While  the  statistics  of  this  system  are 
not  as  impressive  as  the  ones  to  be  quoted  for  Boston,  yet  its  near- 
ness to  the  heart  of  the  city,  its  equitable  distribution  by  which  every 
section  of  the  city  shares  in  its  benefits,  make  it  worthy  the  study  of 
its  sister  cities. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  while  Kansas  City  is  cursed  by 
the  usual  gridiron  city  plan,  this  park  system  tends  largely  to  break 
up  the  regularity  of  that  system.  Omaha,  following  the  course  of 
Kansas  City,  has  a  park  system  fairly  complete;  and  there,  too,  the 
park  system  produces  a  pleasing  irregularity  in  the  street  system 
of  square  blocks.  As  the  development  of  its  park  system  is  ex- 
tended attention  is  bound  to  be  drawn  to  the  fundamental  error 
of  extending  the  existing  street  system  further  than  it  has  already 
grown. 

The  results  that  have  been  accomplished  in  Boston  are  much 
more  widely  known  than  those  achieved  in  any  other  part  of  the 
country.  Indeed  the  majority  of  readers  have  doubtless  so  identified 
the  park  movement  with  Boston  as  to  be  almost  totally  ignorant  that 
anything  of  a  similar  nature  has  been  undertaken  elsewhere.  With- 
out wishing  to  derogate  from  the  importance  of  what  Boston  has 
accomplished  in  this  line,  I  do  want  to  produce  some  facts  and 
figures  to  show  that  this  movement  for  civic  improvement  is  wide 
as  the  nation,  and  that  many  cities  are  undertaking  what  in  Boston 
has  not  yet  reached  the  stage  of  perfection.  Boston  is  but  one  of 
many,  and  even  as  a  pioneer  has  a  rival  in  Kansas  City,  if  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Bronx  park  system  in  New  York  does  not  rob  both 
of  the  right  to  that  name. 


22  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

But,  while  in  a  general  way  the  Boston  park  system  is  known, 
its  extent  is  not  appreciated,  and  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome  are 
assumed  by  many  to  have  been  necessarily  indifferent,  otherwise 
such  a  thing  would  not  have  been  done  in  this  country.  Authorities 
in  other  cities  will  tell  you  that  for  this  or  that  reason  the  situation 
in  Boston  was  better  adapted  to  carrying  out  the  program,  either 
because  of  its  financial  condition,  its  natural  location,  or  some  other 
advantage  not  enjoyed  by  the  sister  city  which  occurs  to  the  political 
authority  in  question  as  a  plausible  excuse  for  not  buckling  down 
to  the  task  of  finding  a  way  to  do  likewise. 

There  are  within  eleven  miles  of  the  State  House  at  Boston 
thirty-eight  separate  cities  and  towns.  Many  of  them  had  small 
parks,  some  large  ones,  so  that  there  was  a  total  acreage  of  nearly 
seven  thousand  acres.  It  was  necessary  to  devise  a  plan  by  which 
all  of  these  separate  corporate  entities  would  be  compelled  to  bear 
their  portions  of  the  expense.  A  way  was  found  in  the  appointment 
of  a  Metropolitan  Commission,  which  did  not  take  charge  of  these 
separate  holdings,  but  has  secured  others  and  joined  many  of  the 
new  and  old  ones  by  parkways.  The  cost  has  been  adjusted  by  a 
separate  commission. 

Under  the  lead  of  Charles  Eliot,  a  preliminary  commission  was 
appointed  in  1893  to  consider  the  possibility  of  carrying  out  a  scheme 
which  he  had  gradually  evolved.  The  commission  reported  favor- 
ably a  year  later.  A  loan  of  $5,000,000  was  secured  for  beginning 
the  work  and  a  permanent  commission  was  appointed.  Other  loans 
have  since  been  authorized.  The  commission  in  its  tenth  annual 
report  shows  that  it  has  spent  over  $11,000,000,  with  the  result  that 
within  the  radius  of  eleven  miles  of  the  State  House,  an  area  in- 
habited in  1900  by  eleven  hundred  thousand  people,  there  are  now 
fifteen  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  acres  of  park  land, 
which  includes  all  separate  park  holdings  of  the  many  cities  and 
towns  of  the  district.  Fifteen  miles  of  parkways  have  been  con- 
structed and  land  has  been  secured  for  ten  miles  more.  Ten  miles 
additional  will  soon  be  acquired.  The  average  annual  cost  of  main- 
tenance of  the  entire  park  area  is  slightly  over  $500,000.  The  com- 
mission has  been  authorized  to  spend  $300,000  in  addition  in  each 
of  the  ensuing  five  years  and  thereafter  $1,500,000  additional,  in 
order  to  complete  the  system.  And  yet  more.  The  Charles  River 
reservation  ends  at  the  Harvard  Bridge.  That  reservation  is  now 

[224] 


The  Development  of  Park  Systems  in  American  Cities          23 

to  be  continued  by  the  Boston  Park  Commission  along  the  south 
side  of  the  river  to  the  Charlesbank  Playground. 

Embraced  within  the  system  are  the  three  river  valleys  of  the 
Charles,  Mystic  and  Neponset  Rivers,  an  encouraging  example  of 
the  increasing  appreciation  of  water  fronts.  The  Middlesex  Fells 
and  the  Blue  Hills  Reservation  include  the  highest  land  facing 
Massachusetts  Bay.  The  latter  is  the  largest  city  park  in 
America,  covering  4,857  acres.  These  various  reservations  are 
largely  connected  with  each  other,  but  some  links  are  yet  to  be 
forged.  One  instance  of  a  complete  link  may  be  described  to  indi- 
cate what  is  meant  by  a  park  system.  The  Commons  are  connected 
by  the  Public  Gardens  with  Commonwealth  avenue,  which  leads 
westwardly  to  the  Back  Bay  Fens,  and  the  latter  southwestwardly 
and  southerly  to  Olmsted  Park  and  Franklin  Park,  which  is  con- 
nected by  Columbia  road,  running  northeastwardly,  with  the 
Strandway.  The  latter  in  turn  leads  along  the  shore  to  Marine 
Park,  which  is  linked  by  a  parkway,  running  eastwardly,  with 
Fort  Independence,  which  lies  well  out  in  the  bay.  This  is 
the  park. zone  lying  nearest  Boston  on  the  south.  A  number  of 
the  parks  named  are  connected  by  parkways  with  other  not 
named. 

It  has  been  noted  that  the  movement  for  small  parks  that 
began  in  the  eighties  was  for  open  spaces  sometimes  called 
"squares,"  sometimes  "parks,"  never  "playgrounds."  The  nineties 
added  the  latter,  and  they  are  gradually  assuming  a  position  of 
more  importance  than  the  old-fashioned  type  of  public  square.  This 
is  because  they  are  more  used.  Boston  has  the  honor  of  being  the 
pioneer  in  this  movement,  which  has  been  exactly  contemporaneous 
with  that  for  the  outer  park  system,  a  conspicuous  proof  that  the 
need  of  small  open  spaces  is  not  overshadowed  by  the  more  mag- 
nificent idea  of  a  great  co-ordinated  system  of  outlying  country 
parks.  These  playgrounds  are  out-door  gymnasia.  They  are  well 
supplied  with  apparatus  of  all  kinds  and  are  furnished  with  running 
tracks.  Gymnasium  instructors  are  placed  in  charge.  Whosoever 
will  may  go.  Boston  has  seventeen  such  playgrounds,  officially 
classified  as  such  in  the  report  of  the  Park  Department.  The  last 
report  notes  that  other  sites  are  being  investigated.  The  general 
idea  of  the  system  of  playgrounds  of  Boston  is  that  playgrounds 
for  the  smaller  children  shall  be  located  within  a  half  mile  of  every 

[225] 


24  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

home,  and  that  recreation  grounds  for  the  larger  boys  shall  be 
nowhere  more  than  a  mile  distant  from  their  homes. 

This  playground  movement  is  gaining  headway  throughout 
the  country;  all  the  larger  cities  are  rapidly  falling  into  line.  One 
of  the  achievements  of  Mayor  Low's  administration  in  New  York 
was  the.  opening  of  eight  such  playgrounds.  Chicago,  as  will  be 
noted  later,  is  also  securing  a  considerable  number  of  them. 

The  cities  that  have  followed  to  some  extent  the  example  of 
Boston  in  preserving  places  of  natural  beauty,  in  addition  to  Kansas 
City  and  Omaha,  are  Hartford,  Buffalo,  Minneapolis,  and  to  a 
smaller  extent  its  twin  city  of  St.  Paul,  the  borough  of  the  Bronx, 
and  to  some  extent  Brooklyn.  Cities  that  have  somewhat  less  devel- 
oped systems  are  Cleveland,  the  upper  portion  of  the  Borough  of 
Manhattan,  N.  Y.,  and  Memphis,  Tenn.  Cities  that  are  at  the 
beginning  of  the  acquisition  of  comprehensive  systems  are  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. ;  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Harrisburg,  Providence, 
Portland,  Ore. ;  Seattle,  Wash. ;  Louisville,  Milwaukee,  Staten  Island, 
St.  Louis  and  Ottawa,  Canada.  Such  lists  as  these  are  accurate  one 
day,  but  inaccurate  the  next  because  of  a  new  recruit. 

In  Baltimore  the  movement  was  undertaken  by  the  Municipal 
Art  Society,  which  secured  the  services  of  the  Olmsted  Brothers  in 
planning  a  system.  Their  plan,  which  was  published  in  the  summer 
of  1904,  will,  when  carried  out,  give  that  city  twenty-four  new  small 
parks,  covering  two  hundred  and  four  acres,  additions  to  existing 
parks  amounting  to  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  and  park  con- 
necting links,  either  formal  or  valley  parkways,  fifty-eight  miles  in 
length,  their  width  varying  from  two  hundred  feet  to  a  quarter  of 
a  mile,  with  yet  larger  outlying  reservations  several  thousands  of 
acres  in  extent.  Despite  the  fire,  a  beginning  has  been  made  toward 
executing  the  plan. 

In  Providence  the  park  agitation,  which  has  been  going  on 
for  some  time,  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  commission  in 
November,  1904,  which  is  to  report  to  the  Legislature  in  January, 
1905 ;  which  report  will  therefore  have  been  rendered  before  this 
sketch,  of  the  park  movement  is  published. 

In  Philadelphia,  forty-five  organizations,  including  official  rep- 
resentatives of  the  city  government,  philanthropic  organizations, 
local  improvement  associations  and  civic  organizations  of  many 
kinds,  have  joined  with  park  associations  under  the  title,  "Organ- 

[226] 


The  Development  0f  Park  Systems  in  American  Cities          25 

izations  Allied  for  the  Acquisition  of  a  Comprehensive  Park  Sys- 
tem." The  formation  of  the  alliance  has  been  accompanied  by  a 
good  deal  of  agitation  and  that  city  now  has  one  parkway,  ten  miles 
in  length  and  three  hundred  feet  in  width  throughout  its  entire 
length,  under  construction.  It  has  approved  a  plan  for  a  parkway 
from  the  City  Hall,  the  centre  of  the  city,  to  Fairmount  Park,  a 
distance  of  a  mile,  and  has  voted  $2,000,000  toward  its  construction ; 
one-half  of  this  parkway  will  probably  be  in  use  within  a  year.  The 
city  has  provided  $500,000  for  an  approach  to  its  second  largest  park 
and  has  placed  one  of  its  creek  valleys,  two  miles  in  length,  upon 
the  city  plan  as  a  park. 

Chicago  has  a  system  of  boulevards  which  is  perhaps  the  best 
known  of  any  in  the  country.  Its  citizens  seemed  to  believe  for  a 
long  time  that  sufficient  had  been  done  in  this  direction,  but  it  has 
recently  been  rudely  awakened  from  that  belief  and  has  voted  to 
remedy  its  needs.  Mr.  J.  F.  Foster,  general  superintendent  of  the 
South  Park  Commission,  thus  epitomized  the  situation  in  February, 
1904:  "The  North  Side  Commissioners  have  authority  to  expend 
one-half  million  dollars  for  small  parks  or  playgrounds,  the  West 
Side  Commissioners  one  million,  and  the  South  Park  Commissioners 
one  million.  The  South  Park  Commissioners  have  also  been  author- 
ized to  expend  three  millions  in  the  acquiring  and  improving  of 
larger  parks.  These  funds  are  available  and  will  be  used  by  the 
South  Park  Commissioners  at  any  rate,  without  delay  in  the  carry- 
ing out  of  the  intention  of  the  law.  Fourteen  new  parks  have  been 
selected,  the  land  has  for  the  most  part  been  purchased  and  the 
plans  for  most  of  them  have  been  adopted.  The  president  of  the 
Board  of  County  Commissioners  has  appointed  a  committee  of  mem- 
bers of  the  County  Commissioners,  the  different  park  boards,  the 
Common  Council  and  public-spirited  citizens,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  what  steps  are  necessary  to  bring  about  the  establishment  of 
an  outer  system  of  park  reservations,  something  similar  to  that 
existing  about  Boston." 

In  a  letter  to  the  writer,  dated  December  27,  1904,  Mr.  Foster 
shows  the  situation  ten  months  later.  "As  I  wrote  you  last  Febru- 
ary, the  South  Park  district  has  acquired  twelve  new  parks,  and 
two  more  are  under  condemnation.  Five  of  these  ten  are  small 
playgrounds ;  that  is,  from  six  to  ten  acres  in  extent,  in  the  densely 
populated  part  of  the  city.  The  others  are  larger  parks  ranging 

[227] 


26  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

from  twenty-two  to  sixty  acres.  I  understand  that  the  other  two 
park  boards  have  made  some  selection  for  new  parks  for  play- 
grounds, but  have  not  as  yet  acquired  any  property  therefor.  There 
are  five  or  six  municipal  playgrounds  of  perhaps  an  acre  or  two 
acres  in  extent,  managed  by  a  special  park  committee  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  mayor,  that  have  been  in  operation  for  two  or  three 
years. 

"The  cost  of  maintaining  the  five  new  playgrounds  which  the 
South  Park  Commissioners  have  created  is  estimated  at  from  fif- 
teen to  twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year  each." 

The  committee  formed  to  bring  about  the  establishment  of  an 
outer  park  system  secured  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Dwight  Heald 
Perkins  by  the  city  of  Chicago  and  Cook  County  to  prepare  a  com- 
plete plan.  This  plan  is  to  be  published  in  February,  1905. 

In  describing  the  system  in  a  letter  to  the  writer,  Mr.  Perkins 
says :  "We  have  divided  Chicago  and  Cook  County  into  four  zones. 
The  first  is  inside  of  the  present  chain  of  parks ;  the  second  zone  is 
comprised  of  the  existing  large  parks ;  the  third  zone  circumscribes 
them  and  is  itself  circumscribed  by  the  fourth  zone.  The  third  zone 
has  a  park  sixteen  miles  long  in  what  is  known  as  the  Skokee 
Marshes,  which  lie  northwest  of  the  city;  west  and  southwest  this 
zone  is  taken  care  of  by  separate  parks  varying  from  forty  to  three 
hundred  acres,  connected  by  boulevards  and  country  drives.  The 
fourth  zone  comprises  one  park  twenty-five  miles  long  in  the  Des- 
plaines  Valley  and  other  parks  and  drives  in  the  Sag  Valley  about 
fifteen  miles  in  length.  Some  portions  of  these  parks  are  twenty- 
two  miles  from  the  centre  of  the  city. 

"No  formal  estimate  of  prices  has  been  made  nor  can  it  be  at 
this  time.  .  .  .  My  own  idea  is  that  $25,000,000  will  cover  the 
cost.  You  will  understand  that  the  entire  report  is  suggestive,  that 
other  boards  will  take  up  and  execute  it  as  rapidly  as  possible  in  the 
future.  The  suggestions  have  been  approved,  but  nothing  of  a 
legal  or  financial  nature  has  as  yet  been  done  to  carry  them  into 
effect." 

"The  Kingshighway  Commission"  presented  a  report  in  the 
spring  of  1903  on  a  plan  for  joining  four  existing  large  parks  of  the 
city  of  St.  Louis  with  other  outer  parks  by  means  of  a  continuous 
parkway,  the  estimated  cost  of  which  is  three  and  a  quarter  million 
dollars. 

[228] 


The  Development  of  Park  Systems  in  American  Cities          27 

The  plan  for  Milwaukee  is  less  interesting  than  the  proposals 
for  other  cities,  because  the  parkways  are  projected  to  follow  the 
line  of  the  gridiron  system  of  streets.  One  admirable  feature  is  the 
proposal  to  join  two  small  water  front  parks  with  a  large  park  by 
securing  other  ground  fronting  on  Lake  Michigan,  which  will  give  a 
continuous  drive  along  the  water  front  from  a  point  near  the  Court 
House,  northwardly  to  the  end  of  the  built-up  portions  of  the  city. 

The  plans  for  park  systems  for  Portland,  Ore.,  and  Seattle, 
Wash.,  show  that  the  park  movement  is  general  throughout  the 
country.  These  plans  were  drawn  up  by  the  Olmsted  Brothers,  who 
have  also  drawn  a  plan  for  a  somewhat  less  interesting  system  for 
Louisville,  Ky. 

The  movement  has  spread  north  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  recently  appointed  a  commission  to  study  the 
beautification  of  the  city  of  Ottawa.  This  city  offers  a  most  mag- 
nificent opportunity  for  park  construction.  It  is  intersected  by  so 
many  waterways  that  its  water  front  is  perhaps  more  extensive  than 
that  of  any  inland  city  in  the  world.  The  Ottawa  River,  the  Rideau 
River,  the  Gatineau  River  and  Dow's  Run  are  some  of  the  water 
courses  in  which  that  "City  of  the  North"  rejoices.  Naturally  the 
recommendations  urge  the  wisdom,  nay,  the  necessity  of  taking 
advantage  of  this  tremendous  opportunity. 

The  cities  have  not  a  monopoly  of  the  movement  to  secure  park 
systems.  It  has  spread  to  suburban  counties.  In  Essex  County, 
N.  J.,  there  were  in  1894  twenty-six  acres  of  park  land.  There  are 
now  3,500  acres,  and  three  miles  of  parkways,  the  beginning  of  a 
more  extensive  system.  In  this  county,  Newark  and  the  Oranges 
are  situated.  In  the  adjoining  Hudson  County,  Jersey  City  is  the 
principal  municipality.  The  Hudson  County  Park  Commission, 
recently  appointed,  has  not  yet  issued  its  first  annual  report.  It  is 
proposed  to  connect  the  system  of  that  county  with  the  Palisades 
Interstate  Park.  The  fourth  annual  report  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
mission shows  that  on  January  I,  1904,  six  of  the  eleven  miles  of 
shore  frontage  had  been  secured,  thus  preserving  that  much  of  this 
stretch  of  remarkable  scenery. 

These  three  commissions  are  really  working  out  an  outer  park 
system  for  Greater  New  York.  They  are  all  accessible  from  Wall 
street  as  are  the  Bronx  Parks.  In  the  latter  system  are  two  notable 
parkways;  one,  the  Mosholu,  connecting  Van  Cortlandt  Park  with 

[229] 


28  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Bronx  Park,  is  six  hundred  feet  wide  and  a  mile  in  length;  the 
other,  the  Bronx  and  Pelham  parkways,  connecting  parks  of  the 
same  names,  is  four  hundred  feet  wide  and  two  miles  in  length. 
In  Brooklyn  the  Bay  Ridge  Parkway  reaches  the  great  width  of 
nine  hundred  feet.  For  Staten  Island,  now  almost  devoid  of  parks, 
its  Chamber  of  Commerce  has  proposed  a  complete  system  to  occupy 
about  four  thousand  acres,  or  one-tenth  of  the  area  of  the  island. 
This  report  was  presented  in  December,  1902. 

One  of  the  most  important  park  systems  is  being  planned  for 
Washington.  In  1901  the  United  States  Senate  appointed  a  commis- 
sion composed  of  Messrs.  McKim,  St.  Gaudens,  Burnham  and  Olm- 
sted  to  report  a  plan  for  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  report  that 
was  presented  dealt  largely  with  the  development  of  the  Mall,  of 
which  hereafter,  and  recommended  in  addition  an  outer  park  system, 
which,  if  adopted,  will  give  the  Capital  of  the  United  States  an  impe- 
rial system  of  parkways  sixty-three  miles  in  length,  connecting  parks 
eight  thousand  acres  in  extent,  the  outer  link  of  which,  completely 
surrounding  the  city,  north  of  the  Potomac,  will  connect  fourteen 
forts  built  during  the  war  for  the  protection  of  Washington.  The 
commission  calls  attention  to  the  plan  of  the  city.  That  plan  is 
fundamentally  right  and  the  commission  was  therefore  fundament- 
ally right  in  bringing  it  forcibly  to  the  attention  of  the  American 
people.  A  radial  system  by  which  streets  running  north  and  south 
and  east  and  west  are  intersected  by  many  diagonals  offers  an 
opportunity  for  embellishment  which  Baron  Haussmann  quickly 
realized.  It  is  curious  how  many  people  think  that  Washington  is 
based  upon  the  plan  of  Paris.  Man  after  man  will  tell  you  so,  and 
yet  Washington  was  founded  in  1800  and  its  plan  adopted  a  year 
or  two  earlier,  while  it  was  Baron  Haussmann,  the  prefect  of  the 
Seine  under  Napoleon  III,  who  beautified  Paris  by  the  radial  sys- 
tem of  streets.  It  is  significant  that  the  two  most  beautiful  cities 
in  the  world,  Paris  and  Washington,  are  not  built  upon  the  gridiron 
plan.  That  significance  has  been  pointed  out  and  the  lesson  is  being 
learned.  It  is  likewise  significant  that  Paris  has  been  made  the 
most  beautiful  city  in  the  world  in  only  forty  years. 

Group  Plans. 

The  outer  park  movement  is  likely  to  be  overshadowed  in 
popular  apreciation  by  that  for  the  realization  of  "group  plans" — 

•  [230] 


The  Development  of  Park  Systems  in  American  Cities          29 

plans  for  the  grouping  of  monumental  public  buildings  about  a  Mall. 
These  plans  contemplate  the  embellishment  of  the  centres  of  cities, 
and  for  that  reason  movements  for  their  realization  appeal  to  a 
larger  group  of  citizens. 

Again,  the  most  important  illustration  of  these  is  Washington. 
The  Senate  Commission  proposed  a  plan  for  grouping  public  build- 
ings along  the  Mall  leading  from  the  Capitol  to  the  Washington 
Monument  and  thence  to  the  White  House.  This  will  involve  the 
destruction  of  the  tenderloin  and  the  demolition  of  the  otherwise 
undesirable  section  south  of  Pennsylvania  avenue.  The  idea  has 
received  a  remarkable  amount  of  support  throughout  the  country, 
and  the  construction  of  no  less  than  nine  buildings  has  been  author- 
ized in  accordance  with  it.  In  other  words,  the  entire  plan  seems 
to  be  in  a  fair  way  of  realization. 

The  first  step  towards  carrying  it  out  was  taken  when  Con- 
gress passed  an  act  appropriating  $4,000,000  toward  the  total  ex- 
pense of  $11,000,000  involved  in  the  removal  of  the  railroad  tracks 
from  the  Mall  and  the  erection  of  a  Union  Station  north  of  Massa- 
chusetts avenue.  This  again  involved  the  removal  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  railroad  tracks  that  now  make  the  one  ugly  spot  in  that 
beautiful  thoroughfare,  already  embellished  by  forty-five  small 
green  spots.  The  importance  of  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  Massa- 
chusetts avenue  will  be  the  main  connection  through  the  heart  of 
the  city  between  the  eastern  and  western  portions  of  the  park  sys- 
tem. In  addition,  the  location  of  the  following  buildings  has  been 
authorized  in  accordance  with  the  recommendations  of  the  com- 
mission :  the  Senate  building,  the  House  of  Representatives  building, 
the  building  for  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  Hall  of  Records, 
the  District  Administration  building,  the  building  for  the  National 
Museum, — all  these  government  buildings, — and  two  other  build- 
ings, for  the  Washington  University  and  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution. 

Next  in  importance  is  the  group  plan  of  the  city  of  Cleveland, 
the  conception  of  which  was  doubtless  due  in  large  measure  to  the 
creation  of  the  Court  of  Honor  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair. 
Several  public  buildings  were  to  be  erected  at  about  the  same 
time.  It  was  suggested  that  they  should  be  grouped  in  some  way, 
and  a  plan  has  been  developed  whereby,  from  the  heart  of  Cleve- 
land, a  Mall  will  extend  to  a  monumental  railroad  station  on  the 


30  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

lake  front,  with  a  small  park  dividing  the  station  from  the  lake.  At 
the  end  of  the  Mall,  near  the  centre  of  the  city,  the  post-office  build- 
ing, now  in  course  of  erection,  is  to  be  balanced  by  a  proposed  public 
library.  Just  before  the  railroad  station  is  reached,  a  city  park, 
already  owned  by  the  city  and  running  at  right  angles  to  the  Mall, 
is  to  be  turned  into  an  Esplanade.  Fronting  on  the  Esplanade  and 
also  on  the  Mall,  on  each  side,  it  is  proposed  that  a  City  Hall  and 
Court  House  be  erected.  The  ground  for  these  two  buildings  has 
been  bought  and  the  plans  for  them  are  in  process  of  preparation. 
The  ground  in  the  centre  of  the  Mall  is  being  secured  by  the  city. 
In  other  words,  this  plan,  which  would  a  few  years  ago  have  been 
pronounced  "ideal  but  absolutely  impossible  of  fulfillment,"  is  now 
in  process  of  construction.  Cleveland  has  begun  the  acquisition  of 
a  surrounding  system  of  parks,  the  encircling  ring  now  extending 
a  quarter  of  the  way  from  the  lake  shore  on  the  east  to  the  shore 
on  the  west. 

Spurred  on  by  the  success  of  the  Cleveland  group  plan,  the  city 
of  St.  Louis  appointed  a  commission  to  prepare  a  group  plan  and 
that  commission  presented  its  report  in  October,  1904,  showing 
alternative  schemes,  similar  in  many  aspects  to  that  of  Cleveland. 
It  is  believed  that  one  of  them  will  be  carried  out.  In  St.  Paul  a 
magnificent  capitol  has  recently  been  erected  and  the  Park  Com- 
mission has  approved  a  plan  which  shows  three  parkways,  branch- 
ing from  the  capitol  in  as  many  directions.  Around  one  of  the 
parkways  it  is  proposed  to  group  such  public  buildings  as  may  be 
erected  in  the  future.  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  have  secured  a 
great  part  of  their  water  fronts  on  the  river  and  inland  lakes  as 
parks  and  parkways.  The  Minneapolis  inner  park  ring  is  almost 
complete.  A  more  extended  system  of  outer  parks  and  parkways  has 
been  proposed  and  formed  one  of  the  notable  exhibits  of  the  Twin 
Cities  at  the  Municipal  Exhibition  of  the  St.  Louis  Exposition.  The 
Fairmount  Park  parkway  will  give  Philadelphia  an  opportunity  for 
the  grouping  of  public  buildings,  which  is  one  of  the  reasons 
advanced  for  its  construction. 

Water  Fronts. 

The  preservation  of  the  water  fronts  of  American  cities  is 
beginning.  The  general  plan  is  to  preserve  the  valleys  of  the 
smaller  streams  in  their  entirety,  but  for  the  banks  of  greater 


The  Development  of  Park  Systems  in  American  Cities         31 

rivers  more  extensive  plans  are  being  devised.  In  nearly  every 
city  of  Europe  the  water  front  is  beautified  by  a  solid  bank  of 
masonry,  sharply  defining  the  limits  of  the  river,  to  which  access 
is  furnished  by  lower  roadways.  The  higher  roadways  are  embel- 
lished as  parkways.  The  Seine  in  Paris  and  the  Victoria  and  Albert 
embankments  in  London  are  but  the  more  familiar  examples  of 
what  hundreds  of  cities  throughout  Europe  have  done.  This  is 
bound  to  be  done  in  America  sometime,  and  when  it  is  it  will  pay 
in  dollars  and  cents. 

In  Washington  a  plan  combining  many  of  the  good  points  of 
the  water  front  treatment  of  Algiers — for  that  African  city  can 
give  a  great  lesson  to  the  Capital  of  these  United  States  in  this 
regard — Buda-Pesth,  Vienna,  Paris  and  Antwerp,  has  been  recom- 
mended by  the  commission.  In  New  York  one  of  the  duties  of  the 
commission  recently  appointed  is  to  consider  the  treatment  of  the 
water  front.  In  Philadelphia  an  agitation  has  been  steadily  grow- 
ing for  wiping  out  the  slum  which  marks  the  line  of  the  Schuylkill 
River,  from  the  southern  limit  of  Fairmount  Park  to  the  southern 
limit  of  the  built-up  portion  of  the  city.  Within  a  quarter-mile 
of  the  centre  of  the  Schuylkill  on  either  side  is  a  section  at  present 
very  undesirable  for  any  purpose.  Yet  it  ought  to  be  the  most 
aristocratic  section  of  the  entire  city.  It  is  bound  to  be  so  in  time. 
A  dozen  addresses  have  been  given  during  the  past  year  urging  this 
improvement,  and  this  is  one  of  the  objects  of  the  alliance  of  the 
forty-five  organizations  heretofore  mentioned.  Perhaps,  after  all, 
this  development  of  the  water  front  will  become  the  most  famous 
result  of  the  movement  for  the  City  Beautiful. 

It  is  significant  that  business  organizations  of  the  country 
are  largely  responsible  for  this  progress  of  American  cities.  The 
Business  Men's  Association  of  San  Francisco  was  instrumental  in 
securing  approval  of  a  loan  of  $18,000,000  a  year  or  two  ago, 
$4,000,000  of  which  are  to  be  devoted  to  parks,  parkways  and  public 
buildings.  The  three  most  prominent  trade  organizations  of  Phila- 
delphia are  among  the  forty-five  allied  organizations.  It  is  the 
Cleveland  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  which,  along  with  the  Cleve- 
land Chapter  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects,  the  principal 
credit  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  Group  Plan  is  due.  Similarly 


32  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

there  are  three  business  organizations  among  twenty-three  associa- 
tions allied  for  the  improvement  of  the  Borough  of  Queens  of  New 
York  City,  and  it  was  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Staten  Island 
that  secured  the  park  report  heretofore  mentioned. 

There  have  been  difficulties  in  the  way,  but  they  have  been 
surmounted.  The  Boston  park  system  was  secured  only  after  thirty- 
eight  differing  municipal  governments  had  been  either  mollified  or 
compelled  to  surrender.  The  system  of  Providence  will  face  a  sim- 
ilar difficulty,  only  less  extensive.  The  Philadelphia  park  system 
will  not  be  complete  unless  two  adjoining  counties  unite  in  the 
work  and  that  co-operation  has  already  been  considered  at  a  meeting 
of  representatives  of  the  counties,  namely,  the  State  Senators  of  the 
respective  counties  and  the  Mayor  of  Philadelphia.  The  park  sys- 
tem of  Kansas  City  was  made  complete  by  the  action  of  an  adjoining 
county.  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  have  together  begun  the  creation 
of  a  co-ordinated  system.  The  States  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey 
have  joined  hands  in  the  preservation  of  the  Palisades  as  a  park, 
and  the  State  of  New  York  and  the  Dominion  of  Canada  have  pre- 
served the  Falls  of  Niagara. 


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